Colbun, Enel Pull Plug on Chile’s Biggest Hydropower Project

Investors have officially shelved Chile’s largest hydropower project in the face of public and government opposition and a boom in cut-price renewables.

Utility companies Colbun SA and Enel Chile SA said they plan to return the water rights and abandon the project to the state after failing to overturn a ministerial decision to block the HidroAysen megaproject to build five dams on rivers in Chilean Patagonia.

Without public support or government backing, building the dams would be impossible, they said.

“Developing projects with the characteristics of HidroAysen requires a broad national consensus on energy policy, a condition ...